If passed, the Republican bill could impact thousands of additional students across two grades next year. Critics say expanding the controversial law is a mistake, given the disruption to learning among all grade levels during the pandemic.
Under the state’s third-grade reading law, third-graders who are reading more than one year behind grade level on the state’s standardized test, the M-STEP, are recommended to be held back in grade.
Most third-graders have already taken the test this school year, and 2,699 letters have already been sent to families from the Michigan Department of Education saying their student scored low enough on the reading portion of the test to trigger a recommendation that they be retained in grade.
Schools and parents have broad leeway to disregard the state’s recommendation.
Wednesday, Senate Republicans on the education committee voted 4-2 along party lines to pause third-grade retention for this year due to the anticipated learning challenges associated with the pandemic, but extend the read-or-flunk law to include fourth-graders in spring 2022.
Facing a crucial post-pandemic school year, Michigan leaders are exploring ways to bolster a dwindling teacher corps, from loan forgiveness programs to boosting starting pay.
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LANSING In a normal year around this time, thousands of students across Michigan would be quietly filling in bubbles on the state’s standardized test.
As with all things education and COVID, it’s a little different this year.
In 2020, with the virus still new and unknown, the U.S. Department of Education waived its requirement that schools administer state summative assessments. That included the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, otherwise known as the M-STEP, which is administered to students in grades 3 through 8 and 11.
Michigan officials tried for months to secure another waiver this year, but were denied. Instead, they got a compromise: Schools are required to
A lot of Michigan students won’t be taking the standardized tests, which are given in grades 3-8 and 11. Because of the pandemic, many families are being given an option by districts to take the normally mandatory test, or just say no.
The result will not only mean far fewer test-takers, but far less useful data emerging from the scores.
Districts are in the midst of testing, with makeup dates available through early May. It will be weeks before there is a clear picture of how many took the tests, but school officials who spoke to Bridge Michigan said they anticipate a large dropoff from the about 700,000 who took the tests in 2019.